Automating Irrigation In Agriculture Using Iot

Farmers are constantly looking for ways to more efficiently use resources available to them in order to produce large yields from their crops. IoT solutions can help farmers automate various tasks, including monitoring of conditions in their fields and soil and automatically providing water when needed. This blog post will discuss how modern IoT solutions can help farmers to automate irrigation, resulting in improved yields and cost savings.

The use of IoT solutions in agriculture can be divided into two broad categories: monitoring the environment and directly controlling the environment. For farmers, the monitoring of soil and air conditions can help determine if their plants need additional water or fertilizer. Most modern IoT solutions provide real-time data to farmers via sensors, which can then be monitored to take appropriate measures.

Today, modern IoT solutions provide more than just monitoring capabilities. IoT solutions can also be used to directly control environmental variables. For example, some of the more advanced IoT solutions can accurately distribute required amounts of water with the help of systems such as pumps, valves, sprinklers, etc. This can range from directly controlling the amount of water given to each specific plant to extremely accurate and fine control over the rate at which water is distributed to the soil.

Using IoT solutions for automatic irrigation can have tremendous benefits for farmers in terms of cost, efficiency, and agricultural yield. An automatic irrigation system can help save time, effort, and money associated with manual watering. It can also help balance the amount of water and nutrients supplied to plants, resulting in improved yields and quality of plants. Additionally, proper irrigation is essential in preventing soil erosion and providing optimal growing conditions for plants.

The following code snippet provides an example of how some IoT solutions might be used in an automatic irrigation system:

# include required libraries
import gpiozero
from datetime import datetime

# set up pump and soil sensors
pump = gpiozero.DigitalOutputDevice(17)
sensor1 = gpiozero.MCP3008(channel=1)
sensor2 = gpiozero.MCP3008(channel=2)

# define target moisture levels 
level1 = 3700
level2 = 1000

# define watering function
def water(level):
    if level < level1:
        pump.on()
        while level < level2:
            level = sensor1.value
    pump.off()

# define main loop
while True:
    level = sensor1.value
    water(level)
    time.sleep(300)

Using automatic irrigation systems can provide a great benefit to farmers in terms of both time and cost savings, as well as improved yields for their crops. Additionally, advanced control systems can improve the accuracy and efficiency of watering. In the end, it's up to the farmer to decide the best way to make use of the technology available.